❰Epub❯ ➝ Song of the Beast Author Carol Berg – Lectinshield.co.uk

chapter 1 Song of the Beast, meaning Song of the Beast, genre Song of the Beast, book cover Song of the Beast, flies Song of the Beast, Song of the Beast 24d7f1ddf56a3 Brutal Imprisonment Has Broken Aidan McAllister Once The Most Famous Musician Of His Generation, Celebrated As A Man Beloved Of The Gods, His Voice Is Now Silent, His Hands Ruined, His Music That Offered Beauty And Hope To War Torn Elyria Destroyed Even The God Who Nurtured His Talent Since Boyhood Has Abandoned Him But No One Ever Told Him His Crime To Discover The Truth, He Must Risk His Hard Bought Freedom To Unlock The Mind Of His God And The Heart Of His Enemy

About Author

Carol Berg

The Books of the Rai kirah,

10 thoughts on “Song of the Beast”

Kristalia
Kristalia says:

❰Epub❯ ➝ Song of the Beast Author Carol Berg – Lectinshield.co.uk

Final rating oscillating 4.5 4.75 5 stars Sing to me.Ease the grieving of my heart.Transform me into that which I have been.Beloved, soothe my uttermost sorrows.Transform me.Make me remember It is so rare to see a great stand alone fantasy the one with proper beginning, middle and end, never to bore It s easier for authors to write series books equals character development, extended story, world building But some authors can manage all of that in 1 book only, given the right amount of pages And some authors, sadly, but true, fail miserably while writing series The point Well done book with amazing characters, a storyline which exceeds expectations and a very good world building with the creatures i love the most DRAGONS And not only dragons are here, we also have sexless race very interesting one and their culture and history was very interesting to read about We also have kingdoms, dragon riders and gods.I met Carol Berg s work through Rai Kirah series and ever since I read first book, I knew I loved her style of writing and I WANTED, NEEDED to read of her works As soon as possible And what I love the most I love stand alone books that move me emotional level, yes I felt so many emotions while reading this book There are murders, betrayals so vicious I felt so sad, angry and hurt while reading it But there is also that feeling of hope, of feeling happy when the character is happy, and it was worth it.With Berg s works, one could say their endings are realistic This is what makes me adore her works Rai Kirah is one of the series I enjoyed reading, and this one is similar in terms of hardships the main characters endure If I am to compare whose life was worse, I could not decide between Seyonne from Rai or Aidan from Song Both of them are forced into inhuman situations no one should ever live through and are broken, so broken both of them struggle to heal and be normal again Neither of these two are moved by revenge they only want to heal and live But that s that when it comes to the similarities these two share.This book is written in first person point of view, but it had POVs than one And it was done wonderfully Change in perspective is always appreciated and it gives us much when it comes to condemning or forgiving the actions of certain people Overall, I loved the characters Aidan is the most important as he is our narrator, but side ones are important as well, and some of them have their own POVs There were some plot holes which is why my rating is oscillating I may have missed the answers I was seeking, but it did not feel that way Anyway, everything important was explained, but some things remained a mystery But we have answers than questions, which is great WORLDBUILDING Elyria is the most powerful of all kingdoms, with strong allies They keep strong hold over their allies and enemies because of their force of dragon riders Their rulling caste is Senai class tall, dark haired people of Elyria there are also Udema, blond haired middle caste and others one of them being a genderless race of Elhim, whose members look alike each other too much, with gray eyes and paleness, who are not welcomed by Senai nor Udema, not even by foreigners Dragons are thought to be mindless, cruel, vicious and capable of eating and killing anything that moves But the bloodstones and dragonsbane herb jenica keep them under the control of riders One group of riders, called Ridemark Twelve families, are the best and strongest force of dragon riders in the world STORY Aidan McAllister, our primary narrator, a Senai nobleman and a musician, was the most famous singer in all the Kingdoms Wherever he went, he was welcomed, his voice soothing the hurt, sadness, inspiring awe, happiness, joy Aidan was content with the way he lived he was singing, playing music, helping people s souls, doing the work he loved most in the world Cousin to the King Devlin, he was never interested in power and only ever interested in music, his own god Roelan and dragons Roelan, god of music, is the one who gave most of the support to Aidan, and he sang for Roelan inspired by Roelan s voice, his music, his love for Aidan For seven years I traveled the length and breadth of all known lands, my life an unending celebration of beauty and mystery and joy I refused no invitation, shunned no venue as too remote or too dangerous or unworthy, and I took no payment save food and shelter, for there was nothing that could match the gift of my life I was the voice of a god, and I carried his joy into noble houses and into lepers dens, into palaces and the poorest quarters of great cities I sang before the king, and I sang for his soldiers in the field of battle, and I sang for the stunned and starving victims of war in their squalid tenements But when he was 21, in his best years and when he was the happiest he was arrested, thrown into prison by his own kingdom, tortured daily and his torturer asked himself what is the best way to silence a musician Break his fingers too many times so he can never play instrument again, break his body and mind in order to silence him for 7 years straight. Seven years and he would go free But Aidan couldn t stay silent for long 10 years, and when he stopped hearing the voice of his god, he broke and was forced into silence for the next 7 years in total, 17 years of absolute misery What Aidan didn t know was the reason for this cruelty was it something he sang about, something he said, something he did He never found out during his captivity, he never knew why he had to be silenced.Until one day the actual beginning of the book , he was released from the prison But was it a mistake Did they honor their 7 years punishment by finally freeing him, or did someone break him out This is a story of Aidan, who is trying to find out why he had to be silenced and the reason why one of the conditions for his freedom states that he must never be near a dragon again The story is quite complex and this is only a small part of the story with many events, great world building and wonderfully written and realistic characters CHARACTERS The story is told from multiply POVs But the most important one is Aidan He is confused, scared, broken and he wants nothing than to be left to heal and to be able to live his own life normally But how can he, when his dreams are shattered, his voice lost, his hands broken, never to play again He does not pursue revenge but he wants to know why he had to go through all of this What did he do to earn half of his life spent in madness, darkness, and finally, feeling dead Bollocks No one leaves Mazadine alive Foolish girl She couldn t see that I was really dead Other key players in this story are Narim an Elhim who helped Aidan during his recovery, thoughtful, very intelligent and dangerous and Lara, a woman from dragon rider clans who wanted to ride a dragon and ended up scorched, who is quick to judge, harsh, strict, hard hearted, but also thoughtful and sympathetic when needed to be There are others too, but a reader meets other key players during the story and writing about them would be a waste of my time i could be reading another book by then, and also, it s sometimes better to know less b spoilerish c not recommended But I loved their complexity OVERALL Wonderfully written, strong, emotional, with great plot, interesting characters with motivations and desires and who are complex, compelling writing, and dragons And great worldbuilding Carol Berg twisted tropes and I loved it Betrayals, love, realistic ending everything was so well done Honestly, out of everything in the book, I was satisfied with the end LIKED Wonderful writing Fantastic characterization Multiply POVs Dragons Elhim race Aidan and some other people Roelan World building Story DISLIKED Minor plot holes OTHER IMPORTANT INFO Standalone YES Point of View First POV, multiply characters Cliffhanger Nonexistent Triggers view spoiler rape attempt, slavery, torture hide spoiler

A bump up from three and a half stars Written like a traditional epic fantasy, plotting still went in a few unexpected directions in romance and manipulation At heart is a mystery why the lead was imprisioned, and part of him is reluctant to find out He meets a person or two to boot him on his way I enjoyed the mixup of races and clans A few times, I was completely unsurprised by the direction the plot took, but nonetheless, it was an enjoyable ride there.Here s the problem I enjoyed it, but I started reading it in New York, continued on a car trip with a ten year old and a six year old, and finished when I got home Shall we say, less than ideal conditions Thus, I feel both my reading and review suffers, so it s back on the to be re read shelf so I can do both justice.

This book and its author are a stonking discovery I m a fan of Janny Wurts The Wars of Light and Shadow is my favorite epic fantasy series ever and Carol Berg was recommended to me as a not to be missed quality fantasy author with a gift for prose, well rounded stories and characterization I decided to start with this book since it s a standalone and the summary, with the element of music as part of the plot and a mature protagonist, intrigued me.It also sounded like traditional fantasy, with Dragons, Bards, Chosen Ones and Evil Kings fine by me, originality is not of paramount importance as long as the story is entertaining and the characters interesting to read about, meaning ambivalence, spontaneity and unpredictability This book truly exceeded my expectations, the traditional fantasy tropes are skilfully rendered and its main strength is Berg s narrative technique the story never flounders, I was emotionally involved and I couldn t really put the book down, even if it s neither a pacy romp with break neck battles nor a complex character driven play of oblique intricacy.There is a single plot line and a linear progression, with depth and emphasis on the protagonist s development which I liked very much truly all the characters are not banal, even the stereotyped ones merge beautifully in the tale because all the motivations are complex, entwining, entrenched and changing There were some details that puzzled me a little, but the story moves forward so sinuously, there s both action and introspection, it feels very fresh and immersive.Actually, this simplicity is truly deceptive, there are several plot twists and the structure of the work is consistent and engaging, to say nothing of the rhythm which is carefully researched throughout the intensity never wavers, it builds steadily and increases when the story reaches its peak When I was reading I noticed none of that, I artlessly savored the tale and let myself go with the flow, it came so natural Now that I am thinking about it, two Berg s books strong already read Transformation for good measure , I see the pattern is deliberate, and effective The narrative is in first person, mainly told from Aidan viewpoint, but a few other characters share the lead and the shifts are handled ingeniously, also seeing certain scenes from other vantages enhanced my experience and never caused confusion.The introduction grabbed me at once the protagonist and the background are disclosed very gradually, enough to pique my curiosity but not too much at once as to mar the harmony of the reading progression The description of Aidan, of his trauma and inner dilemma are very poignant and I promptly sympathized with the bard and his terrible imprisonment Seventeen years before he had everything Cousin to a king, a skilled musician the like of which has not been seen for years, beloved of the gods, he had been twenty one, impossibly healthy, and filled with the unutterable joy of spending his life doing what he loved most.He is a standard fantasy good guy with a twist, because he s strong willed, he clings to life but he has lost any purpose, he is so scarred inside and out that even the simplest things escape his grasp Filled with the dread of not knowing why he was so harshly silenced, and why he was so suddenly released only to be chased again, his gift lost, he slowly reinvents, embarking in a difficult journey to unravel the puzzle of his life and find a path that was not solely the way of vengeance But how can a man who cannot undo the past and cannot see a future find something to live for, make a sense of his longings, all the while preventing those who help him from dying The perspective starts to widen as Aidan learns to be human again, and rises above the most basic instincts Other characters enter the stage and the mystery behind and around the fallen bard grows along with the conflicting interests of the various parties In the eye of the storm the most powerful weapons in the realm s arsenal the dragons and their eerie, enigmatic calls.To sum up my impressions the world building is delicate, enough to flesh out the action but it never gets overly detailed The tale is exquisitely narrated, classic fantasy with some turns which I didn t anticipate for the most part, on the contrary, I was eager to know what was going to happen next, and how Thinking about it, the tale is simple, yet irresistible The ending was satisfying and the building of tension to delivery impeccable, the last chapters have a gradual and neat tying up of the plot The characterization is the forte of the novel, the various sides are not so clear cut and it was really engaging to read about the clash of cultural heritages and personal interests The romance subplot is nice, the theme of love has an intriguing take here the element of music and the ethereal descriptions of the dragons mysteries have a strong emotional impact, too.Beautiful I can see why a fellow fan of Janny Wurts should not miss this author and the other way around, too Berg writes adult fantasy featuring solid plots with great prose, no absolutes and focus on characterization though Wurts style is unmatched I ve liked her short story in the BLACKGUARDS Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues anthology, I ve read with delight this novel and Transformation, now I think it s high time for of her skill and imagination, possibly in a multi POV book I, too, was becoming something new Something unknown

It s been a really long time since I ve read a fantasy book that I enjoyed as much as this one It s definitely a fantasy novel, but it has a lot of really delightful aberrations from standard fantasy tropes For example, rather than being a young handsome farmboy thrust into the middle of a great struggle, the main character is 38, is of noble descent, has been imprisoned for 17 years for reasons unknown to him, and is horribly disfigured from his stay in prison Before his imprisonment, he was the greatest musician there had ever been, widely believed to have been blessed by the gods, but his hands were destroyed in prison and his voice silenced Rather than being hellbent on revenge, he s mostly confused and conflicted over the whole situation, and he struggles with what is the proper way to feel The plot focuses around discovering why he had been imprisoned in the first place and his path to finding meaning in his life again without the ability to play music.I ve just made this sound horribly dull and navel gazing, but there are also dragons and fighting and dragons and unlikely love and dragons did I mention the dragons The dragons are pretty cool, actually, though I m not sure how much they deviate from the way dragons are usually portrayed in fantasy, because I usually avoid books about dragons at all costs They sure as hell aren t Pern dragons, though.This is Berg s first book, and it shows a little There are parts that I would have liked to have better developed or spelled out for me I sometimes felt that as a reader, I really had to work to figure out what was going on with the way the narrator referenced something It is told in first person from different narrators, though, so I m not sure if that issue was part of that character s nature or a fault in the writing I never felt that the first person narration was done hokily there aren t any instances of the narrator explaining something that another character should have known for the benefit of the reader or the narrator info dumping for the narrator s benefit But some of the sentences are very oblique, very glancing, so you have to think about what is really meant by them.Anyway, yes I enjoyed this Pleasant surprise, really.

Brutal imprisonment has broken Aidan McAllister Once the most famous musician of his generation, celebrated as a man beloved of the gods, his voice is now silent, his hands ruined, his music that offered beauty and hope to war torn Elyria destroyed Even the god who nurtured his talent since boyhood has abandoned him But no one ever told him his crime To discover the truth, he must risk his hard bought freedom to unlock the mind of his god and the heart of his enemy This was our book club pick for June and the first book I ve read by author Carol Berg It s a stand alone and we re always looking for stand alone fantasy to read for book club, so that was one thing that drew us to it This book pulled me in instantly Carol Berg has a writing style that is beautiful yet easy to read, and that s just how I like a book to be The main character, Aidan went through so much in prison and I just loved him right from the beginning I could feel his hurt so much, and I loved the beautiful person that he was and how his attitude was not bitter, despite all those things that happened to him One of the best things about this book was that it featured a bard We don t often get a main character who is like Aidan And while I like the rough, manly men who can wield swords and all that are often featured in fantasy, I could relate to Aidan and I loved his kind and gentle nature, and his love of music and song I scorned him for huddling by the fire, and he offered to share his tea I reviled him for his cowardice at the kai s lair, and he made me soup I ridiculed his noble ancestry, and he laughed at himself and cleaned my hearth I drove him unmercifully in his schooling, and he devoured it as if I d gifted him with jewels But I found steel beneath his soft spoken manner I could not break him Despite his struggles with the tasks I set him, he lived with everything of gentleness and grace The other characters were also very compelling to read about Lara took a little while to grow on me, but her story was interesting and I ended up liking her quite a bit, despite her stubbornness and her fear of sharing her heart She had a protective nature that made her appealing The Elhim are obviously based on Elves and I liked a couple of them quite a bit, but their scheming ways made we wary of trusting them at times The ending left we wanting a little There was one thing that I really wanted to happen that didn t and I think most people will probably feel the same way I do about it, but other than that, this was an excellent read and I highly recommend it if you love high fantasy and dragons Even if you don t love dragons I still recommend this book The dragons are mostly just talked about and don t really come into play until the end and Aidan s story is worth reading The story was so compelling and it had just the right amount of romance for me I m going to have to read of Carol Berg s books now.Review also posted at Writings of a Reader

It s been a long time since I read this but I remember being quite pleased with it.He says faintly.Okay.Lemme do better.First off, this is standalone fantasy and I am on principle a huge fan of standalone fantasy Because pretty much every fantasy trilogy or fantasy quintuplet or whatever has contained about 1.5 books of incident spread across 3, 5 or 15 novels And inevitably book 2 is total bobbins and is just there to make you wait for book 3.But standalone fantasy has all the stuff I like about fantasy presented into me in a way that doesn t seem designed to be irritating.Berg, I seem to recall, tends to write character driven fantasy And she has some interesting takes on gender in that her men aren t paragons of masculinity and her women have agency.This book centres on Aidan, once the world s greatest musician, lately imprisoned for 17 for reasons he can t understand Silenced and crippled and broken, he spends quite a lot of time being confused and conflicted and trying to work out how exactly he feels about the role he s expected to play in the wider happenings of the book It s a little bit introspective, especially in the early sections, but hell the fellow has cause.The early plot deals with the mystery of Aidan s imprisonment and the later with the consequences of it There s high stakes and an unusual romance and also dragons.Pretty damn entertaining really.

I don t know. 4.5, 4.75 heck I ll give the full 5 stars Do you know that awesome feeling of finally finding a ridiculously cheap book on Bookoutlet that actually sounds promising and it actually turns out one of your favorite reads of this year yep, this book gave me that awesome feeling All of us fantasy fans know that finding a decent standalone fantasy novel is probably as easy as walking into Mordor, well look no further I strongly recommend that you give this little gem a chance I was really impressed by the author, she managed to give us three dimensional full cast of characters within the span of less than 400 pages, we have a whole sexless race with their own history and mysteries, many other human subcultures and different customs, lovable main characters with complicated pasts and heart wrenching interactions.And can we talk about how amazing the protagonist is He s a divine musician, beloved by gods and men, thrown in prison without explanation, his hands mangled beyond recognition and his voice silenced I gotta admit the beginning was a bit slow, but I just fell in love with Aiden McAllister that I didn t mind He s damaged and awkward and completely useless when it comes to fighting, however his heart of gold and dry sense of humor made him rise in my eyes to the ranks of the badass warriors I ve read about in other famous series.I won t go on and on about other characters and plot, suffice it to say it s been a great ride and a most pleasant surprise The writing is beautiful and I still can t get over the fact that it s only 380 pages yet it still managed to build a vivid world with a thrilling story.

BR with Tammie 5 lovely stars for a wonderful story.This book has grabbed me from the very first paragraph and wouldn t let me set it down until the end.The plot is deceptively simple and takes several unexpected twists and turns.The characters are memorable and the prose so very beautiful Hands down, one of the best books I ve ever read.